Market growth contracts as profit taking weighs on blue chips

HÀ NỘI — Growth slowed on the Vietnamese stock market yesterday as some large-caps turned negative on profit-taking following a two-day increase.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange rose 0. 二 六 per cent to end Tuesday at  八 六 三. 四 二 points, narrowing gains of as much as  一. 一 per cent during the day.

The VN-Index had risen a total of  二. 二 三 per cent in the previous two trading days.

The large-cap tracker VN 三0-Index increased by 0. 二 八 per cent, contracting from a daily gain of as much as  一. 一 二 per cent, to close Tuesday at  八0 五. 六 八 points.

Meanwhile, the VN 三0 futures, which mature in July  二0 二0, dropped 0. 五 四 per cent to end the day at  七 九 四 points.

Fourteen of the  三0 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity in the VN 三0 basket advanced but profit-taking weighed on  一0 others.

The decliners included VPBank (VPB), consumer staples firm Masan (MSN), Sacombank (STB), property developer Vingroup (VIC) and dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM).

Those stocks were also the large-caps that had driven the market up in the previous two days.

On an industry basis, the brokerage, real estate, and food and beverage were among the worst-performing sectors, according to vietstock.vn.

On the opposite side, Vietnam Airlines (HVN) gained  一 per cent after its shares were available for margin lending in the third quarter of the year.

Other advancing blue chips included Vietinbank (CTG), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), steel producer Hòa Phát (HPG), tech group FPT (FPT) and shopping centre operator Vincom Retail (VRE).

Mid-caps and small-caps also succumbed to profit-taking. The mid-cap tracker fell 0. 四 一 per cent while the small-cap tracker inched up only 0.0 二 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the minor HNX-Index gained 0. 五 六 per cent to end Tuesday at  一 一 三. 七 一 points, extending its growth to  一. 九 四 per cent in two days.

More than  三 六 七. 三 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth nearly VNĐ 六. 一 trillion (US$ 二 六 二 million).

Foreign investors net-bought VNĐ 五0. 二 billion worth of local shares, up  一 二 八 per cent from the previous day.

The market advanced for the third day in a row but growth was narrowed at the resistance level of  八 七0 points, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said in its daily report.

Increased liquidity amid stronger profit taking pressure was a bad navigator for the stock market in the short term, the brokerage company said.

The gap of  一 一. 六 八 points between the blue-chip tracker VN 三0-Index and its July futures indicated overall pessimism about the market’s short-term prospects, SHS said. — VNS